Closest Thing to Family
by Hidden Relevance
Summary: David McNorris thought his life had ended in rehab, but one of his oldest friends is out to change that. Between that stubborn woman, and one scared little boy, David's walls don't stand a chance. Post Blackout, David/OC Rating may increase.
1. Prologue

**Oh holy Boomtown fic! So I finally recieved my dvd set (in pieces which I am NOT happy about but oh well) and managed to watch through Blackout. That of course, put me in the mood for fun and dandy Neal MacDonough fanfiction. Imagine my shock when there were only 15 fics in the entire Boomtown section.. and only 4-5 of which revolved around our sexy angsty blonde. Now I have no idea what I was thinking starting a multi-chapter fic, but there you go. Lu, my drunken muse, was obviously feeling a bit of kinship with McNorris.**

"Hey there, Davey boy." David McNorris once claimed that nothing surprised him anymore, but the sound of the familiar snarky greeting interrupting his conversation with Stevens and Smith did just that. When the oh-so-loveable Nurse "Ratchet" had informed him in a cold voice that another visitor had arrived, he'd somehow assumed it would be Marian or Andrea, not that, in all honestly, either woman was likely to show. He'd also taken a bare moment to hope they hadn't arrived together, as even one would be embarrassing enough in front of the detectives (and why in the hell had those two shown up anyway?) but both of them would be close to disastrous. The young woman who stood in front of him, however, was not one he'd even thought to hope for. The petite brunette squinted, letting her eyes adjust from the cool gloom of the visitor building to the bright sunshine of the courtyard. She beamed at his thunderstruck expression. "Didn't expect me, huh?"

He raised a pale eyebrow, and she just laughed, leaning over to give the blonde what was a long practiced one-armed hug before throwing herself into the last empty chair at the patio table. "Don't look so shocked to see me. I'd have been here last weekend with Sharky, but I had, and I use the term loosely here, a date." She glanced over at the other two men at the table and smiled broadly. "Gentlemen. I don't believe we've met." She extended a pale hand across the table to exchange handshakes. "The name's McDowell. Dr. Brianna McDowell. And you are?" David smothered a groan. There were a variety of reasons that he normally tried to keep his personal and professional life separate: just one being that his friend was a pro at observing body language. There was no way Bri was going to miss the less than subtle smirk the pair had flashed between them at the sight of her.

The taller man decided to speak first, in all likelihood to give his partner a chance to study the woman, David knew. "Nice to meet you, Dr. McDowell. I'm Detective Bobby Smith, and this is my partner, Detective Joel Stevens." None of the men seated at the table missed Brianna's sudden jerk at the word 'detective.' Still, she caught herself, full lips bowing up into a practiced smile and eyes going wide. The large black man continued smoothly as if nothing of importance had occurred. "You can call me Fearless. Most everybody does."

Just as seemingly unaware of the young woman's discomfort, Joel was simply smiling the same open smile David had come to expect from him. "I'm Joel."

"Nice to meet you, both." She shot the men a measuring look before raising an eyebrow at David. He nodded slightly. She had recognized the names from any one of their conversations at the gym. After a moment, the forced smile eased into one that, for a moment, was almost shy. "So, you're stuck working with this guy, then?" she quipped, shrugging a shoulder in the blonde's direction.

The smile on Joel's face deepened in response. "5 days a week or that's what they tell me. Some of us work more than others, though." He shot his partner a mocking look, which Fearless pretended to ignore. David glanced over to see his friend finally relax the rest of the way. He smothered a sight of relief; banter did tend to push back some of her tension around cops; he was grateful that was proving true here. Though he'd never admit it to them, these two were probably the closest he had to friends on the force. It would get messy if Bri decided to loathe them just on principle. Joel looked back at her. "So what about you?" The soft spoken man shot a pointed look from Bri to David. "How'd you two meet?"

"Hell, I really hate that question." The young woman groaned pitifully, causing David to thin his lips, fighting off embarrassment. She'd never been unwilling to talk about him before. Bri caught his expression, and quickly clarified. "I just spent 10 minutes explaining the 'relationship to resident' question to the dragon at the gate over there." She rolled her eyes. "And then spent another five while she made a point of reminding me that while I might not be aware of it, 'relationships of a physical nature are discouraged while the resident is at the illustrious Betty Ford Center for Chemical Dependency.'"

David clenched his jaw, blue eyes lifting to glare in Ratchet's general vicinity. "And this was after you told her who you were?"

"Of course." She shook her head, visibly shaking off her irritation, before she turned and leveled a brown eyed stare at David. "So, how's life, Davey?" It was their phrase, the one that always signaled that a long conversation was due. Long _over _due actually: he'd been fairly successful at avoiding that point question once he started drinking heavily again. Right at the current moment though, he wasn't in the mood to drop the avoidance dance. And Detectives Smith and Stevens sitting across from him were only part of the reason. Ignoring those two quizzical glances, David wiped a hand across his face to buy some time, realizing too late that he'd used his left. Immediately, Bri's sharp gaze honed in on both the naked ring finger and the battered knuckles. She blew out a sharp sigh. "Well. Already." She pursed her lips, but otherwise kept her own counsel. David was rather impressed at her restraint. After all, Marian had never had a problem with making her distaste for the younger woman very known; Bri would have been well within her rights to make some comment.

David noticed both Joel and Fearless's heightened attention and decided a change in subject would be prudent. "So, a date." He smirked. "Though you use the term loosely." She groaned dramatically again.

"Blind date, and Shari's going to pay for this one. He was only 21, and didn't even act that old." She shot the now snorting Fearless a quelling look. "I swear, David, the idiot was every single reason that I don't date younger men."

"Younger?" Joel asked then immediately wished he hadn't. Bri was looking positively wounded. "I'm sorry, Brianna, how old are you exactly?" Joel cringed a little realizing he'd worked himself into one of the two questions men never asked women.

David smirked, as she hid her face in her hands. He doubted the other men realized she was fighting laughter. "Older than I look, apparently. Or did you think that 'doctor' was just a joke?" She looked up with a sly grin. "Though, why that would surprise me, I have no idea." She pouted, which David was amused to note, only made her look even younger. "I actually got carded buying Sharky's cigars last week." She gave one final sigh. "Ah well, it just means I shall never… ever… age."

There was a quiet moment in the wake of that statement. Finally, Fearless spoke up. "You know, you still never said how you two actually met…" He trailed off.

David narrowed his eyes at the almost insinuation, but Bri just took it in stride. "Subtle, Fearless. Very subtle." Both David and Joel chuckled at Bri's wry tone. "And to the question you _didn't _ask, no, I'm not sleeping with him." This time, only Bri was laughing wickedly. Both Fearless and Joel were choking as they tried to compose themselves, while David merely rubbed his hand across his forehead, ears pink. He should have expected the outspoken woman to dive right into the subject that his co-workers had been tiptoeing around. She watched the two detectives squirm another moment before relenting. "David's family. Or the closest thing to it anyway."

David felt himself truly smile for the first time in weeks, an action that he knew he wouldn't be able to hide from the men across the table. He sighed and decided to fill in the blanks for them. "I've known Bri and her family since I moved to L.A. after college. Sharky, her uncle, owns the gym I go to." He shrugged; there didn't really seem to be much more to tell.

Fearless, however, still seemed to want more information. "_Sharky?_" His tone was amused. "That's really his name?"

Bri grinned at the question. "This coming from the guy who calls himself 'Fearless.' But no, his name is actually Brandon. Sharky's just what everyone at the gym calls him." She shook her head at the matching perplexed expression on the partners' faces. "He's one of the oldest boxers in town to still has all his teeth."

"Thus, Sharky." The tall man seemed to finally get the moniker. He sat back and studied the two before him. "So, friends with the gym owner, huh? Still, doesn't explain why the niece is here to visit." Fearless's voice was light and joking, but the words '_who's gotta be half your age if that' _seemed to echo after the word niece. David fought the urge to lunge across the table, one hand fisting beneath it; the last thing he needed was an assault charge against a police officer while at fucking rehab for God's sake.

Beside him, Bri sent him a calm look and leaned her knee hard against his. The soothing message in her eyes clear to him, as always. She hadn't been so offended she'd leave, and she wouldn't mind handling the situation. She waited a beat until his hand unclenched and then turned her gaze back to the detective, eyes distinctly cool. "Now, I'm not exactly sure which of us you were _intending_ to insult, detective, but I am insulted, either way." Beside his partner, even Joel had the grace to look abashed.

David saw Bri acknowledge it and choose to continue. "When I said David was family, I meant it. Has been almost since the first day at the gym." She smiled a little. "I hated him at the time, though. I was thirteen, and hated just about anyone guy that I didn't know that came into _my _gym. Lawyers and cops topping that list, of course." She shot them both a look that said she hadn't completely changed her opinion over the years. "So then in came David freaking McNorris, recent law grad and all around arrogant bastard in my opinion, showing up in my safe zone, all smiles like he thought the smelly place was a damn haven." David finally softened enough to smirk at her description of him. "And worse, Sharky had the gall to like this obnoxious college boy. Even started inviting him around the house and crap."

Fearless dared a grin. "I take it that didn't go over well."

David spoke up. "Not as such, no." The sarcastic bite that they all knew was back in his voice, making Bri cackle.

"And the understatement of the year goes to…" She beamed at the memory. "Needless to say, I did my damnedest to drive him bats. Tied his tapes in a couple dozen knots. Put chili powder in his water bottle. Ran off with his clean shirts. That sort of thing. I mean, at that point, I was enough of a fixture at the gym that there really wasn't a way to avoid me. Basically, I was just determined to piss him off, and get him to leave. And if he didn't, then I wanted Sharky to realize how much trouble his very presence was causing me and _make_ him leave."

"Did it work?" Joel asked, with a grin that made David fairly sure he knew the answer.

"Nope." She looked almost amused at herself this time. "Sharky didn't budge and David didn't budge. Just took it all in stride, until suddenly he wasn't a stranger to me anymore. Next thing I knew I was wrapping his hands for him before workouts while bugging him about college and even bringing him the damn bottle of water afterward. Hell if I knew how that happened."

Fearless's voice was thoughtful. "He was just family." Bri shrugged her assent while David watched the two detectives exchange a glance. Whatever had bothered them about her presence, Bri had eased it with her tale. The group spoke about nothing in particular for a few minutes more before, after another glance, Joel and Fearless gracefully excused themselves for the evening. "It was nice to meet you, Ms. McDowell," Fearless said, utterly respectful.

Joel chose to simply smile again. "Brianna." David and Bri watched them leave in silence.

"I'm surprised you actually stuck around after you knew they were cops." David's voice was deliberately biting, the tense afternoon finally weighing down on him. "I expected you to leave." She sighed, before leveling a gaze that David knew from experience might as well go right through him.

"No, you didn't." She reached down into her bag and pulled out the stack of self-help books she'd brought for him. They were the only things he would get to read in the damn place besides the Big Book and the Good Book, both of which tended to get real old real fast in his opinion. "And in any case, I didn't leave. I figured it was probably a good thing that I didn't."

He stared intently at the table. "Think I couldn't handle the conversation on my own?"

"Oh, please." Out of the corner of his eye, he caught her rolling her eyes at the injured tone. David supposed she'd heard it far too often over the years. "I _thought_ that it might actually start making headway toward having someone willing and able to stand up for you when you got back on the job instead of hating your guts like you normally encourage." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm surprised you hadn't thought of it already."

He sighed and lowered his head to his hands, weary beyond belief. "Bri, I've been in here 14 days, and all I can think about is where I'll get my next drink." He laughed brokenly. "I just can't care about anything else."

Contrite, the young woman stood and bent to hug him again, lingering this time. "I know, Davey. I know." She leaned her cheek against his hair, voice dropping to a whisper. She was nearly as worn out as he was. "I'll care _for_ you if you need me to. That's why I'm here."

They stayed that way until they were told that visiting hours were over.

**So there's the prologue kiddies! I hope yall enjoyed it even though there was almost no action. I've long felt that there was no way David would have stayed sane as long as he did with only Marian and Andrea as a support network. Thus, I decided to give him one. The first chapter will take place a few months from this point, and will actually be more from Bri's point of view.**

**BTW, I have no beta, so reviews are the only way I find out what I can improve on. (hint hint wink wink)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Man this is possibly the longest I've gone between updates on a current story and I'm so so very sorry about that! I actually wrote nearly three completed chapters before deciding that this was the direction I wanted to go with this story. I hope you like it despite the wait!**

**BTW, Boomtown is not, nor has it ever been mine. Le sigh.**

_Seven Months Later_

David threw back a cup of coffee like it was a shot of whisky, desperately trying to wake himself up. In his opinion, just after 3 in the morning was an absolutely ungodly time to be awake and sober. But there he was, striding out of the elevator at the precinct and making his way toward Stevens and Smith's desks. When Joel had called to wake David out of a dead sleep, the deputy DA had nearly cursed him within an inch of his life, but the news Joel had given had brought the blonde almost violently awake.

They actually had a witness in the missing child case that had been giving the entire force hell. So far, the serial killer (or at least they'd all assumed it was a serial killer because, dear God, they did not want to consider that they might be dealing with more than one of the sickos) had taken three children. One little girl and a pair of twin boys had all been taken from their beds as they slept, and only after every other family member in the house was shot in cold blood. The poor kids' mutilated and molested bodies had been discovered a week or so later. That was five people dead, now six with the newest case.

Joel and Fearless weren't at their desks, so David took a guess and headed for the interrogation rooms. It was possible that they'd taken a hostile witness there. He found the room in use and let himself in, finding Fearless and officers Turcotte and Hechler surveying the other room with tired eyes.

"What have we got?" As usual, he wasted no time with chitchat, preferring to get straight to work.

Fearless had expected that and merely nodded at the two way mirror. "Take a look for yourself, man. This isn't going to be easy." David turned and glanced through the window to where Joel knelt at the feet of a young boy who looked to be barely eight or nine years old. "We think his name is Brennan Doyle, but we're really not sure."

"Ah hell." David scrubbed a hand over his face. It was always harder when kids were involved, but it would be even worse now when this 'Brennan' had apparently seen at least one of his family members blown away before his eyes. "Tell me."

Hechler began. "At about 2:06, a call came in on 911. It was an older man, and he told the operator that there was a man in the house with him and his grandson, and he thought the man was armed. The old guy was giving the address when the operator heard a second male voice yell 'where he fuck is he?' and then 3 shots." Ray took a long draft of his own coffee cup. "All three were found in Gramps when we got there." The normally sarcastic officer shoot his head. "Anyway, when we get there, the door's open, but the perp is nowhere to be found. We found the old man in his bedroom, three shots to the chest, close range. Same MO as the other 3 families so far. At first glance, the kid was nowhere to be found, so we just called in Smith and Stevens."

"Joel found Brennan a few minutes after we arrived on the scene." Fearless said, never moving his gaze from the little boy on the other side of the glass. "He was hiding under his grandfather's bed. We can only assume the old man hid the boy when he realized some one was in the house."

David cursed under his breath. "So the kid would have been under the bed the entire time." He closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to imagine what the little boy might have seen. "Has he said anything so far?"

"That's the other thing: the boy hasn't spoken, hasn't really responded much at all." Fearless swallowed. "Joel had to drag him out from under the bed, and the boy just let him. Didn't fight or struggle. Just let him do it. This kid's pretty seriously traumatized."

"Damn. Poor kid." David mentally shook himself. "Any word on his family? Parents, aunts, uncles?" He frowned at Fearless's solemn shake of his head. The situation with this kid was getting worse and worse. "Alright, just keep digging. What about the scene? Same as the others?"

Fearless nodded. "Exactly the same minus the open door. No fingerprints, no hair follicles. Very little evidence at all. All we got are empty shell casings and him."

David pursed his lips in thought. "We're going to need to call in some help on this one. Without family, we may never get him to talk otherwise."

Fearless glanced at him, finally cracking what was almost a smile. "Guess it's a good thing you've got a psychologist on speed dial then, huh?"

David just nodded, having already pulled out his cell phone and punched in the number. As the phone started ringing, he caught Hechler making some crack about the fact that it didn't surprise him that David had a shrink, but the blonde just chuckled a little under his breath. When an answering machine picked up, David hit end and then dialed the number again. If he had to be awake, then she would be also very shortly.

Dr. Brianna McDowell finally picked up on the 3rd ring, her voice groggy and just barely coherent. "David, do you know what time it is?"

He checked his watch. "It is exactly 3:34 in the morning." Smirk at his old friend's growl of frustration, he quickly continued. "Sorry to wake you, but we need you up here at the station now." He heard rustling on the other end, and knew Bri had likely sat straight up at his tone.

"Whoa, what's going on?"

"We've got a witness in the case I was telling you about. Roughly 8 years old and might have witnessed his grandfather being shot in the chest."

She let out a string of cuss words that left even him impressed. "How's he handling it? Is he talking at all?"

He glanced back over his shoulder to the interrogation room. "No, that's what we need you for. This guy's taken three other kids so far, Bri. We really need a break on this one, and this little boy could be that break."

There was a deep sigh and then the sound of someone moving around. "Alright, give me 20 minutes and I'll be there. In the mean, time, David, I need you to do a couple things for me."

He closed his eyes: with Bri that could be anything from raiding Starbucks to standing on his head. And damned if he could manage to tell her 'no.' "Tell me."

"You've got him in an interrogation room right now, I take it?" She didn't wait for him to confirm it, just forged ahead. "You need to get him out of that room and into somewhere more comfortable or warmer at the very least. Heck, your office would probably be the best bet."

"My office? Wait-"

Her voice was adamant. "Listen, David, if this kid really is a witness, then there's a pretty good likelihood that he'll have to testify, and when he does, he'll need to be comfortable with the DA he's dealing with. And that would be you."

He groaned. "Brianna, what the hell do I know about kids?" He scowled as she chuckled into his ear.

"Enough. Just be honest with him, alright. He's going to be terrified and in shock, but that doesn't make him stupid. If you lie to him now, you'll never get his trust back. Beyond that: just wing it."

David nodded to himself, albeit reluctantly. "O.K. He'll be there when you get here."

"Good. See you in twenty."

He hung up, and met the quizzical gazes of the other three men in the room. "She wants him moved out of there and into my office. Apparently, she's worried about him being cold or intimidated." David shrugged. "Or something."

Hechler snorted. "In your office, McNorris? You sure it's a good idea to have the kid around booze?" He guffawed, obviously amused by his own joke. David struggled against the desire to defend himself. So what if Hechler didn't believe he was almost seven months sober? Really, it wasn't any of the asshole's business, anyway.

He turned away, just barely catching Fearless rolling his eyes at the other officer's antics. At least, someone around here seemed to be, at least marginally, on his side. Bri had been right about Fearless and Joel. David wondered if he should just get used to that. Shaking his head at the thought, he moved to the door that would lead him into the interrogation room. "Wish me luck."

He opened the door and took a brief moment to survey the scene before him. Joel now stood, leaning against the table. The detective's eyes were haunted; this boy was almost Willie's age. David knew that the other man would likely be blaming himself somehow for Brennan's silence. He raised his eyebrow, silently asking the other man if there'd been any change. At Joel's slow shake of the head, David clenched his jaw and took a deep breath steadying himself before turning his gaze to the boy seated at the heavy table. He really was a cute kid, David mused silently, taking in the mop of light brown curls and bright blue eyes that were fixed on the table before him. Shame it was unlikely he'd be smiling any time soon. Clearing his throat absently, David took a few slow strides to the table and knelt down at the silent boy's side.

"Hey there, Brennan." David forced himself not to frown at the lack of response. "My name is David McNorris. I'm a lawyer, and I work with Detective Stevens, here, and his partner." Still nothing. He sighed and continued. "Later, I'm going to need to ask you some questions, but right now, I thought we could see about getting you out of this room. It's kinda cold in here, isn't it?" He stood and smiling slightly, held his hand out to the boy.

It was Joel's sudden breath that alerted David to the fact that something momentous might actually be happening. So slowly he might have been stone coming to life, Brennan stood, eyes still fixed on the table. Then, without speaking or lifting his gaze, his small hand slipped into David's.

David swallowed past the lump in his throat and closed his fingers gently around the hand in his. "Alright, let's go." He met Joel's eyes for a moment, and then led the boy from the room.

**Hey it was a long update. That should count for something.. right? At least one tiny review.. or something lol.**


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